Article by Sheldon Whitehouse published Sunday 31 May 2015 by The Washington Post/Associated Press

Fossil fuel companies and their allies are funding a massive and sophisticated campaign to mislead the American people about the environmental harm caused by carbon pollution.

Their activities are often compared to those of Big Tobacco denying the health dangers of smoking. Big Tobacco’s denial scheme was ultimately found by a federal judge to have amounted to a racketeering enterprise.

Thankfully, the government had a playbook, too: the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. In 1999, the Justice Department filed a civil RICO lawsuit against the major tobacco companies and their associated industry groups, alleging that the companies “engaged in and executed — and continue to engage in and execute — a massive 50-year scheme to defraud the public, including consumers of cigarettes, in violation of RICO.”read more

Opec under siege as Isil threatens world’s oil lifeline

Thick black smoke rising from the Baiji oil refinery could be seen as a dirty smudge on the horizon as far away as Baghdad after fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) set fire to the enormous processing plant just over 100 miles north of the capital last week.

The decision to torch the refinery, which once produced around a third of Iraq’s domestic fuel supplies, was made as the insurgents prepared to pull out of Baiji, which they captured last June in a victory that sent shock waves across world oil markets.read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) deal to acquire the UK-based BG Group (OTCMKTS:BRGYY) that is already at a risk of facing numerous obstacles, including volatility in the crude oil prices and a risk of a competitor outbidding Shell’s bid.

Meanwhile, when the deal is already hovering around such sensitive issues, the Financial Times (FT) has reported the latest hurdle that might hinder the course of the deal. This one is considered to be the biggest of all hurdles, the entry of China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), termed as ‘black box’ by one of the competition lawyer, to conduct a regulatory scrutiny of the deal.read more

At the Guardian Business debate on divestment in Kings Place, London, prominent Economist Nick Stern said that Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) wants investors to bet against the world taking action on climate change. He said that the oil giant and other hydrocarbon companies were pulling in the wrong direction, on the progress that will be made in renewable technology in the coming two-three decades.

He was of the view that despite hydrocarbon companies like Shell saying that the policies that will keep global warming to 2C will not be adhered to, they had to tell those energy companies that their forecasts were wrong. He said that they had to try to get the people to make sure that those policies will be implemented.read more

Extracts from an article by Megan Wallin published 29 May 2015 by TheBaltimore Post-Examiner under the headline:

Seattle says NO to Shell Oil

The barge, given the name “The People’s Platform” is docked in protest of Shell’s oilrig.

Along the water, within view of famous seafood restaurants and expensive condos on Alki Beach in West Seattle, a large solar-powered barge waits with a message.

“Shell No,” one sign reads, with another parodying the drill’s name (Polar Pioneer) with its own dandy logo “Solar Pioneer.” Additionally, a short environmental film is projected on the screen at twilight.

The barge, given the name “The People’s Platform” is docked in protest of Shell’s oilrig.read more

How do you go about removing a massive piece of infrastructure from a hostile environment like the North Sea?

Oil giant Shell has come up with one answer which could be put to the test next year – using a mega-ship to remove the topside of an oil platform in a single lift.

The oil firm hopes Pioneering Spirit – originally called Pieter Schelte – will prove a game-changer by successfully removing the main structure in one go.

Allseas also has a contract from Shell to remove the topsides of two of the other three platforms in the field – Bravo and Alpha (along with Alpha’s steel jacket) – subject to consultation and UK government approval. It has an option to do the same with the fourth platform, Charlie.read more

“In my opinion both stocks are in danger of a severe share price collapse as the oil market outlook becomes ever gloomier.”

Shares across much of the oil sector have received a massive fillip in recent months in line with a recovery in the crude oil price. After the Brent barometer shuttled from $115 per barrel last summer to multi-year lows around $45 in January, a subsequent reduction in the US rig count has underpinned a solid price recovery — indeed, the benchmark was recently trading around the $64 mark.

With investors hoping these measures will represent a sea-change in the oil market’s supply/demand dynamics from next year, shares in oil major BP (LSE: BP)(NYSE: BP.US) have flipped 10% higher since the turn of the year. Investor sentiment in Shell (LSE: RDSB)(NYSE: RDS-B.US) has wavered more recently, however, and the stock is now trading 11% lower from the close of 2014.read more

European oil giant Royal Dutch Shell Plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) has elected the head of its Chinese operations to lead the company’s planned merger with UK-based natural gas company, BG Group Plc (ADR) (OTCMKTS:BRGYY), as it seeks approval from regulatory authorities in several countries.

Earlier this week, the oil company told its senior executives that it has elected Huibert Vigeveno, executive chairman for Shell’s Chinese operations, to spearhead the deal with BG Group, according to a report by Sky News. Mr. Vigevena, who will hold the position of executive VP for integration, will see his appointment become effective in August.read more

From a regular contributor

THE BEAR FACTS -EMERGENCY RESPONSE MAY TAKE TWO OR THREE MONTHS TO ARRIVE!

“The risk of a blowout or spill is always present when a well is drilled. The US government estimates the probability of such an event in Alaska at 75%. In many cases a relief well is the only way in which a blowout can be brought under control, especially if the well casing is breached. There is no “new technology” in existence that eliminates the risk of a blowout, or provides a guarantee that a blowout can be quickly brought under control if it occurs.

The requirement for “same season” relief well capabilities is intended to avoid a situation where a blowout occurs late in the season and continues unabated until the weather improves sufficiently to undertake well control operations in the following year. The time required to mobilise a second rig, drill a relief well, and kill a blowout may be 2-3 months or more. The “same season” relief well requirement therefore effectively shortens the summer drilling season to just a few weeks. If this requirement is enforced, exploration and development of the Arctic will be almost impossible. If this requirement is not enforced and Shell has a blowout which continues through the winter, the clean-up costs may far exceed Shell’s financial resources.read more

Two 25-foot Coast Guard response boats arrived in Dutch Harbor this week. The boats will patrol waters off the coast of Dutch Harbor as oil giant Royal Dutch Shell moves forward with plans to explore for oil in the Arctic Ocean.

“This is very unusual, especially for Alaska,” said Lieutenant Aaron Renschler. He’s the Chief of Enforcement for the U.S. Coast Guard in Anchorage.

“We do deploy our assets around other parts of the state, but specifically for Dutch Harbor, this is the first time.”read more

Federal Agency Dings Shell for Oil Rig Mishap in Arctic

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — May 28, 2015: By DAN JOLING Associated Press

As Royal Dutch Shell PLC seeks permits for exploratory oil drilling off Alaska’s northwest coast, a federal agency has concluded the company underestimated risk the last time it moved drill rigs to Arctic waters.

A National Transportation Safety Board report issued Thursday said the probable cause of the grounding of the company’s mobile drilling vessel, the Kulluk, in 2012 was “Shell’s inadequate assessment of the risk for its planned tow” across the Gulf of Alaska.read more

Oil industry rebuts proposed Arctic drilling mandates

Oil companies and industry trade groups lash out against the Obama administration plan to require rigs and time to drill relief wells in case of emergencies at their operations in U.S. Arctic waters, claiming the proposed rules would shorten an already brief window for exploratory drilling while dramatically boosting the costs of the operations.

The group also says the proposal would lock in the “same-season relief well” requirement even though rapidly evolving technologies might be a better solution when companies lose control of an Arctic well.

Similar arguments were delivered today by Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Statoil (NYSE:STO), which both hold active leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas north of Alaska; ConocoPhilllips (NYSE:COP), another leaseholder in the area, filed comments that are not yet available.

A key sticking point is the same-season relief well requirement – not just the proposed rules for it, but whether it should be allowed in the first place; Shell is asking the Interior Department to replace the requirement with a mandate that oil companies demonstrate they have “assets that can address a source-control event.”

The National Transportation Safety Board blames the 2012 grounding and wreck of Shell’s Arctic drilling rig Kulluk on the oil giant’s “inadequate assessment of the risk” of towing it across the Gulf of Alaska in a winter storm.

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday blamed the grounding of Shell’s Kulluk drilling rig on the company’s failure to adequately assess the risks of towing the vessel across predictably stormy Alaska seas in 2012.

“No single error or mechanical failure led to this accident,” the NTSB said. “Rather, shortcomings in the design of a plan with an insufficient margin of safety allowed this accident to take place. The plan was created to move the (mobile offshore drilling unit) at a time of year with a known likelihood of severe weather conditions for reasons unrelated to operational safety.”read more

Representatives from six of Canada’s First Nations are currently taking part in a Greenpeace campaign with a message that Arctic drilling has the potential to negatively impact communities far beyond the North.

“We know that the ongoing use of oil as a source of fuel is perpetuating global warming or climatic change which effects all citizens of North America, and the world, including my small little community,” said Candace Campo, a business owner from the Sechelt First Nation in the western Canadian province of British Columbia.read more

Shell said in February it would seek approval for the Pioneering Spirit, thought to be the largest ship ever built, to lift and remove the topside in one piece, shunning more traditional methods which involve cutting installations into smaller sections.

Shell-Seattle feud takes new turn

By Devin Henry – 05/28/15 10:26 AM EDT

Extracts

The federal government approved Shell’s plan to drill for oil and natural gas in the Arctic north of Alaska on May 11. Shell signed a deal with a Seattle company to use the port as home base for its drilling fleet, but local officials have tried to stop that from happening.

Last week, the state’s Department of Natural Resources sent Shell a letter telling them that mooring their drilling fleet in the port might violate the state’s constitution, according to the Post-Intelligencer.read more

Huibert Vigeveno is to lead the integration of FTSE-100 giants Shell and BG after their mega-merger, Sky News learns.

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor: Thursday 28 May 2015

The head of Royal Dutch Shell’s operations in China is to spearhead the oil major’s integration with BG Group as the industry’s biggest-ever takeover inches forward.

Sky News understands that Shell informed senior managers this week that it was naming Huibert Vigeveno, its executive chairman for China, as executive vice-president for integration, with the appointment due to take effect at the beginning of August.

The role being handed to Mr Vigeveno, a long-serving Shell executive, will be a crucial one.read more

A waste management company contracted by Shell applied for a permit to dump the Arctic drilling rig’s human excrement directly into a King County manhole. Today we learn that King County said “no.”

The county’s reasoning:

First off, Shell didn’t apply for the permit directly, and permits from third parties who aren’t the ones generating the waste are usually denied. Secondly, the contractor didn’t provide any data about the shit to King County’s industrial waste program. You’re supposed to test the shit, then send data about the shit to the regional officials. And that didn’t happen.read more

Offshore decommissioning ‘a new beginning for North Sea industry’

Brent Delta is among the most iconic platforms

By Ken Banks: BBC Scotland North East reporter

As a growing number of North Sea oil and gas fields head towards the end of their production lives, industry leaders are waking up to the challenges – and opportunities – that lie ahead. Hundreds of business figures attended a conference in Aberdeen this week to learn more about where the decommissioning process is heading.

There’s a growing realisation that offshore decommissioning is now really happening.

Over the next 25 years or so, the process of retiring North Sea oil and gas facilities could cost tens of billions of pounds, according to projections.read more

“My government will definitely not be happy… (Royal Dutch) Shell is one of the biggest single investors in the country and there are some $150 billion in infrastructure projects coming up in the next years…”: Qatar Airways CEO

Al-Baker (above) said Qatar would take note if Qatar Airways was not awarded the extra slot it is seeking in order to fly seven days a week to and from Schiphol. (Reuters Photo)

In handing out lucrative public procurement contracts, Qatar is likely to favour countries whose airports grant take-off and landing slots to state-owned Qatar Airways, its chief executive said on Tuesday. The remarks by Akbar al-Baker, in Amsterdam to launch a new six-times-a-week route, may fan the protests of western carriers that Gulf competitors have unfair advantages because of their close relationships to their governments. read more

When Saudi Arabia argues next week that OPEC should keep up production to fight the rise in U.S. shale oil, prices will be on its side.

Crude plunged for eight of nine weeks prior to the group’s November gathering, when the kingdom faced down opposition from the majority of fellow members, who advocated output reductions to tackle a global glut. With oil companies around the world cutting investment, U.S. output peaking and prices up, Saudi Arabia’s strategy will be extended at OPEC’s semiannual meeting on June 5, say Societe Generale SA and Bank of America Corp.read more

As Shell prepares to drill for oil in the Arctic this summer, a third party safety audit ordered by the US government to ensure there was no repeat of the company’s disastrous drilling operation in 2012 remains hidden from the public.

As a result, the Obama administration stated the company would face unprecedented hurdles before it could drill again. The Interior Department made a third party safety audit a key recommendation of its report looking at the 2012 operation.read more

We May Not See Arctic Oil For Decades

SHELL MAY END UP WITH NOTHING

Shell’s Arctic campaign this year will be pivotal. If the company cannot find large reserves of oil, it will likely set back Arctic oil development for a generation.

The Financial Times reported that Royal Dutch Shell will not see Arctic oil come online anytime soon, even in the best of scenarios. Even Shell officials think that the oil major will not be able to see Arctic oil hit the market until sometime in the 2030s.

There are a few reasons for this. Finding and developing offshore oil can typically take around a decade. First there is a long lead time before any drills hit the waters – analyzing data, purchasing acreage, planning, doing seismic surveys, getting permits, moving equipment into place, and finally deploying rigs. Shell first started buying up Arctic leases in 2007. After years of preparation (and huge setbacks), Shell has done most of this pre-drilling work.read more

Alaska governor tours Shell rig in Seattle, touts Arctic drilling

SEATTLE — The governor of Alaska on Wednesday toured a massive oil drill rig parked on Seattle’s waterfront, then met with Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee to tell him that Washington’s position on future Arctic drilling will hurt the economy of Alaska.

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker met privately with Inslee at Auburn City Hall, south of Seattle. Inslee is a Democrat; Walker an independent.

Inslee spokeswoman Jaime Smith said the two governors didn’t talk about the dispute over the drill rig but generally discussed drilling in the Arctic, which Inslee opposes, she said.read more

Analysts Downgrade Troubled Shell

Given Mornigstar’s view that long-term oil prices will be well below $100 going forward, we don’t believe Shell’s has a lasting competitive advantage over its peers

Shell (RDSB) faces what amounts to an almost existential crisis: even when oil prices were $100 its portfolio was strewn with problems. Huge bets on shale destroyed huge amounts of capital, cost overruns on key projects such as the Motiva refinery, and a chronically poor-performing downstream all combined to leave the company with very weak returns on capital.

We have recently lowered our Shell fair value estimate to £20.50 per share from £21 per share to reflect what we believe was an overpayment with respect to its planned acquisition of BG Group. read more

Seattle: The Polar Pioneer, one of two huge drilling platforms Shell plans to deploy in the Arctic, came up short under a US Coast Guard (USCG) inspection on Tuesday.

Although the USCG said the unspecified hitch was minor and would be easily remedied it was another in an array of small snags surrounding Shell’s planned return to Arctic oil exploration after a three -year hiatus.

Two weeks ago the city of Seattle, where Shell is mooring its Arctic fleet ahead of the trip north, said that by housing Shell’s fleet the port of Seattle is in violation of its lease that designates Terminal 5 as a “cargo terminal.”

And the port of Seattle sent mixed signals when it simultaneously backed Shell’s right to moor its fleet but also requested the oil giant delay the arrival of the Polar Pioneer. That request fell on deaf ears.read more

Arctic drilling invites disaster: Column

Nick Jans: EDT May 27, 2015

An oil spill in sea ice is permanent. And Shell is nowhere near prepared for summer drilling.

I stood on the shore of the Chukchi Sea, at the far northern rim of Alaska. On that late May evening, a maze of shifting ice spilled off to the horizon; a world of the same stretched beyond that, more than 1,000 miles to the North Pole. Out in that vast expanse, Inupiat whalers waited in traditional camps for their first bowhead whale of the season; polar bears roamed, hunting walrus and seals. Slanting in, the midnight sun cast mirages and colors that have no earthly name. I squinted into the distance and tried to imagine oil wells out there, too — dozens, and eventually hundreds, scattered across the face of this harsh but fragile ocean wilderness.read more

In a few short months Shell will (re)enter the Chukchi Sea, between Alaska and Russia. The oil and gas major still awaits approval from a number of state and federal agencies, but in early May the company received the consent of the Obama administration to explore the remote Arctic sea 70 miles off the coast of Alaska.

If it sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Shell was in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas for much of 2012 – a stint that ended with more headaches than drilling. Following some high-profile failures with its Noble Discoverer and Kulluk rigs, Shell put its Arctic operations on pause in early 2013. Amid slumping profits, the group called off its 2014 plans to resume. Today, the economic indicators are not much better – Shell lost $1.1 billion in the Americas in the first quarter of 2015 – but the company is committed to moving forward.read more

Huge oil companies, among the largest businesses in the world, don’t excite hedge fund manager Jim Chanos because today they have to work harder and more inefficiently than ever to bring their products to market.

“Shell, the European oil giant, and Brazil’s national oil company Petrobras, both of which had initially explored pursuing drilling rights in Mexico, ultimately decided to pull their applications…”

The North Texas-based oil companies were among 26 entities approved to bid on drilling rights in the shallow-water Gulf of Mexico off Veracruz, the Mexican government announced Monday.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced in 2013 that the country was opening its oil and natural gas fields to foreign companies for the first time in almost 80 years to try to revive lagging production. But enthusiasm has waned since last summer, as low crude prices threaten drilling projects worldwide.read more

Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A) head of oil and gas production in Americas, Marvin Odum has told the Financial Times (FT) in an interview that the company’s Arctic drilling operations would take at least a decade to extract oil reserves, which would then be sent to production.

The leading executives dealing with this particular exploration project stated that there are enormous difficulties that the company is facing during the process of securing environmental approvals. Amid strong opposition from environmental groups, to obtain the needed approvals is taking longer than the expected time.read more

The oil and gas industries are facing major challenges – the costs of extraction are rising and the turbulent state of international politics adds to the difficulties of exploration and drilling for new reserves. In the face of big problems, its key players are turning to Big Data in the hope of finding solutions to these pressing issues.

Big Data is the name used to describe the theory and practice of applying advanced computer analysis to the ever-growing amount of digital information that we can collect and store from the world around us. Over the last few years businesses in every industry have enthusiastically developed data-led strategies for overcoming problems and solving challenges, and the oil and gas industries are no different.read more

Bosses at the world’s big five oil companies have been showered with bonus payouts linked to a $1tn (£650bn) crescendo of spending on fossil fuel exploration and extraction over nine years, according to Guardian analysis of company reports.

The activist who spent 66 hours suspended from the anchor of an oil exploration vessel has said she took strength during her protest from looking at the wildlife surrounding her.

Chiara D’Angelo attached herself on Friday evening to the anchor of the Arctic Challenger as it moored north of Seattle. The ship is among those that Royal Dutch Shell intend to use as they drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean off northwestern Alaska later this summer.

Ms D’Angelo ended her protest at around 9.30m. Speaking from the town of Bellingham, she told the The Independent that when she started the protest, she had no idea how long she would manage to remain suspended from the anchor.read more

By Ron Arnold, Executive Vice President, Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise: 25 May 2015

National Security, The Seattle Oil Rig, And Greenpeace’s Dirty Money

President Obama had it all wrong in his commencement address at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. He warned that climate change “deniers” endanger our national security – denying “undermines the readiness of our forces.”

In fact, climate change believers are the threat to our national security, such as the recently notorious Seattle mob of Greenpeace “kayaktivists” paddling around Puget Sound trying to stop Polar Pioneer, Shell Oil’s Arctic drilling rig, from making a layover at the Port of Seattle to gear up for Alaskan waters. When thwarted by the Coast Guard’s 500-foot no-approach cordon, the Greenpeace canoe crowd left the harbor and took to the streets where they blocked supplier access to the rig until city police dispersed them.read more

Marvin Odum, Shell’s head of oil and gas production in the Americas, told the Financial Times that the company’s success or failure this year and next in making a significant discovery was critical for the future of Arctic oil development.

Ten years after it first started acquiring new leases in the Arctic, and having spent almost $7bn, Shell has still not yet drilled a single well into oil-bearing rocks. A series of law suits, regulatory objections and its own mistakes have held it up.

FULL FT ARTICLE WITH WORKING LINKS. SETS OUT SHELL’S 2012 DEBACLE IN SOME DETAIL

WE UNDERSTAND FROM INSIDER SOURCES THAT THE INTERNAL NIGERIAN FUEL CRISIS DESCRIBED IN THIS PUNCH ARTICLE IS SEVERELY AFFECTING SHELL OPERATIONS, WITH POWER CUTS AND A LACK OF FUEL FOR VEHICLES.

The current nationwide scarcity of refined petroleum products has reached a crisis point with a litre of petrol selling for between N200 and N600 in many parts of the country, while diesel, household kerosene and liquefied natural gas have also become elusive.

Also, with power generation dropping to an all-time low of 1,327 megawatts, most Nigerian households are now living without electricity as they have also run out of fuel to power their generators.read more

“Having got its corporate fingers burnt once already, it is simply astonishing that the fate of Shell’s resurrected Arctic drilling campaign is being entrusted by Shell and President Obama to such an incompetent, unscrupulous individual, as Ann Pickard.”

By John Donovan

Ann Pickard replaced David Lawrence as Shell VP for the Arctic after Shell’s 2012 disastrous Arctic drilling fiasco, aptly described by the then U.S. Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, as a Screw Up.

When she was a senior Royal Dutch Shell executive in Africa, Ann Pickard boasted to the U.S. Ambassador Robin Sanders that Shell had infiltrated spies into key positions throughout Nigerian government ministries and knew everything that was going on.read more

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Two people have chained themselves to a support ship that is part of Royal Dutch Shell’s exploratory oil drilling plans and currently moored in Washington state.

Eric Ross of the Backbone Campaign said on Saturday morning that Matt Fuller joined student activist Chiara Rose in suspending themselves from the anchor chain of the Arctic Challenger, which is in Bellingham Bay.

Rose suspended herself from the ship with a climbing harness on Friday night in protest to Shell’s plan for Arctic drilling.read more

Last week, the Texas Supreme Court joined the majority of jurisdictions in holding that a company enjoys an absolute privilege when providing the Department of Justice (DOJ) with an internal investigation report containing statements later alleged by an employee to be defamatory.

Chief of Shell’s Arctic drilling program searches for ‘the prize’

(Ann Pickard, Shell’s executive vice president for the Arctic)

Shell’s Ann Pickard says an offshore oil find in the remote Chukchi Sea could eventually yield 1 million barrels of oil daily, and she insists the company has learned from its messy Arctic exploration effort in 2012.

In a brief summer drilling season off Alaska’s Arctic shore, Shell’s Ann Pickard is on the hunt for a giant oil field, and she thinks she knows where to find it.

All of the vessels in the Arctic exploration fleet now gathering in Puget Sound will be headed to a spot in the Chukchi Sea where Shell first drilled in 1989 and 1990. At that site, called the Burger Prospect, the company found natural gas that Pickard hopes is sitting on top of the oil Shell seeks.

“We are going to focus on what I call the prize, and the prize to me is Burger,” said Pickard, Shell’s executive vice president for the Arctic. “If Burger works, then it opens up the whole area.”read more

Activists damage habitat in Seattle bay during Shell oil protests

Photo Credit: REUTERS/JASON REDMOND

Environmental activists who fanned out in small boats across a Seattle bay over the weekend in a protest over Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L)’s plans for Arctic oil exploration in the have damaged “precious habitat” on the sea floor, a state official said on Friday.

Cables used to moor a 4,000 square foot (370 square metre) floating barge dubbed “The People’s Platform” to the floor of Elliott Bay became wrapped around an old steel piling and pulled it over, disturbing aquatic habitat, Department of Natural Resources spokesman Joe Smillie said.read more

Politics| Fri May 22, 2015

U.S. Senators urge Obama administration to block Arctic oil drilling

When Shell lost control of a drilling rig that year it “put numerous lives at risk, including those of the Coast Guard crews” and those of 18 people on the rig…

A group of 18 mostly Democratic U.S. senators on Friday urged the Obama administration to stop Royal Dutch Shell’s preparations for oil exploration in the Arctic, saying the region has a severely limited capacity to respond to accidents.

The senators, from both coasts and several Midwestern states, sent a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, urging her to retire Arctic leases in the Chukchi Sea.

Jewell’s department earlier this month conditionally approved Shell’s exploration plan in the Arctic. The move means the company is likely to return to the Chukchi Sea this summer for the first time since a mishap-filled drilling season in 2012.read more

Markets| Fri May 22, 2015 7:35pm EDT

Shell CEO backs fossil fuels, climate change warnings -Guardian

The world’s fossil fuel reserves cannot be burned unless some way is found to capture their carbon emissions, Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said on Friday.

In an interview published in Britain’s Guardian newspaper, Van Beurden forecast that global energy use would produce “zero carbon” by the end of the century, and that his group would get a “very large segment” of its earnings from renewable power.

The interview came a day after Van Beurden slammed as a “red herring” calls to divest from energy companies as part of the fight against climate change, in particular the “Keep it in the Ground” campaign led by the Guardian.read more

Woman chains herself to anchor of Shell support ship in Bellingham

A woman has chained herself to an anchor of a Shell support ship in Bellingham Bay, Bellingham police say. She can be seen at left.

BELLINGHAM — A woman has chained herself to the Arctic Challenger, a support ship for Shell Oil’s drill rig, in Bellingham Bay, the Bellingham Police Department confirmed Friday night.

She has been identified as Chiara Rose, a Western Washington University student.

“We have spoken with the ship, the Port and the female and will not be taking action to remove her,” a police spokesman said. “The ship is not leaving for several days and we will not risk resources or the female.”read more

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Ben van Beurden Breaking News

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500 EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS CITING OUR WEBSITES

See our link list of 477 articles by the FT, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, Dow Jones Newswires, New York Times, CNBC etc, plus UK House of Commons Select Committee Hansard records, information on U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission websiteetc. all containing references to our Shell focussed websites, or our website founders Alfred and John Donovan. Includes TV documentary features in English and German, newspaper and magazine articles, radio interviews, newsletters etc. Plus academic papers, Stratfor intelligence reports and UK, U.S. and Australian state/parliamentary publications, also citing our Shell websites. Click on this link to see the entire list, all in date order with a link to an index of 64 books also containing references to our websites and/or our activities.
John Donovan, the website ownerHead-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.

DISCLAIMER

This is not a Shell website, nor is it officially endorsed by or affiliated with Royal Dutch Shell.
There are no subscription charges nor do we solicit or accept donations.

SHELL PRELUDE TO DISASTER

The links below are to a series of articles, many triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the pioneering Royal Dutch Shell Prelude project. Includes articles by Mr Bill Campbell above, the retired distinguished HSE Group Auditor of Shell International and another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects.

NAZI NAMED SHIP HIRED BY SHELL

The campaign waged on this website by John Donovan to persuade Edward Heerema to rename the worlds biggest ship, The Pieter Schelte - which he named after his late father, Pieter Schelte Heerema, a former Officer in the German Waffen-SS - has been successful. On Friday 6 February 2015, Allseas announced that it was changing the ships name, and on 9 February announced the new name - Pioneering Spirit.

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL EMPLOYEE DATA BREACH

GLOBAL NEWS COVERAGE: FEBRUARY 2010
MORE INFORMATION: Contact details for over 176,000 employees and contractors of Royal Dutch Shell reached John Donovan and some environmental and human rights groups, ostensibly from disaffected Shell staff calling for a “peaceful corporate revolution” at the company. The database, from Shell’s internal directory, contained names and telephone numbers for all the company’s work force worldwide, including some home numbers. It was supplied with a 170­ page covering note, explaining that it was being circulated by “116 concerned employees of Shell dispersed throughout the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands”, to highlight the harm done by the company’s operations in Nigeria. John Donovan brought the leak to the attention of Shell. Tests proved that the data was authentic and he destroyed the database after being informed by Mr. Richard Wiseman, the then Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, that the confidential information if publicly disclosed, could put Shell employees and contractors in real danger.

SHELL’S ROLE IN NIGERIAN OPL 245 BRIBERY SCANDAL

Whatever fig leaves they might be trying to use to hide the truth, Shell and Eni paid over $1bn to a company called Malabu for the OPL 245 licence. Even though the payment was channelled through the Nigerian government, it was clear that Shell knew that the ultimate beneficiary was Dan Etete, the former minister of petroleum. Etete is the owner of Malabu, to whom he awarded the licence when he was Nigerian Minister of Petroleum.

SHELL PERSECUTION OF DR JOHN HUONG

SHELL SAKHALIN2 DEBACLE

NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.

MORE INFORMATION
Shell appeased and collaborated with the Nazis. The oil giant instructed its employees in the Netherlands to complete a form giving particulars about their descent, which for some, amounted to a self-declared death warrant. Shell used slave labor and was a close business partner in Germany of I.G. Farben, the notorious Nazi run chemical giant that also used slave labor and supplied the Zyklon-B gas used during the Holocaust to exterminate millions of people, including children. Shell continued the partnership with the Nazis in the years after the retirement of Sir Henri and even after his death. It was money generated on Shell forecourts around the world, profiteering from cartel oil prices, that funded the Nazi party and saved it from financial collapse. Evidence about Shell's Nazi connections can be found in extracts from "A History of Royal Dutch Shell" Volumes 1 and 2 authored by historians paid by Shell, who had unrestricted access to Shell archives. There are 67 pages in total, so takes some time to download.

Photograph (full size here) shows a Swastika flag flying at the head office of Royal Dutch Petroleum, 30 Carel van Bylandtlaan, The Hague, during the Nazi occupation of the in World War II (From Image Database Hague Municipal)

Sir Henri Deterding, the founder of the Royal Dutch Shell Group - known as "The Most Powerful Man in the World" - who became an ardent Nazi and financial supporter of Hitler and the Nazi party.

SHELL ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS

SHELL IP PIRACY

Reading between the lines in various legal documents, it seems that the allegations are that after the technology in question had been disclosed to a Shell company in the USA, the information was passed to Shell in the Netherlands in breach of confidentiality. And Royal Dutch Shell subsequently exploited the technology without payment or credit to the company holding the rights; Newton Research Partners. The inference seems to be that Twister B.V. was founded by Shell partly on trade secrets stolen from Bloom/Newton.

WEBSITE INFORMATION

DISCLAIMER: This is not a Shell website nor is it officially endorsed by or affiliated with Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Originally co-founded by the late Alfred Donovan and his son John, it is now operated by John, Shell's "No.1 Enemy", aided by an expert team, with invaluable support from retired Shell senior executives and officials as guest contributors and leaked information from Shell insiders.(JOHN DONOVAN, WEBSITE OWNER)For nearly a decade, we have operated globally under the Royal Dutch Shell Plc top level domain name, dealing on Shell’s reluctant behalf with job applications, business proposals, Shell pension enquiries, shareholder enquiries, complaints, invitations to speak at conferences, an approach from the Dutch Defence Ministry and even terrorist threats. All meant for Shell. Prospect magazine has aptly described this website as being:"An open wound for Shell":WIPO proceedings by Shell to seize the domain name failed.NO SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES: All of our watchdog activities monitoring Royal Dutch Shell, including operating this website, are carried out on a non-profit basis. Any advertising revenues generated are used to recover and/or defray operational costs. We are a news aggregator and original content website. All information is available free for educational and research purposes. SHELL TACIT ENDORSEMENT: WHAT A WELL INFORMED SHELL OFFICIAL SAID ABOUT US:
"John and Alfred Donovan well known in UK/Hague. They perceive Shell played them and so have made it their mission to embarrass,belittle and criticize Shell, which they do quite well. Their website, royaldutchshellplc.com is an excellent source of group news and comment and I recommend it far above what our own group internal comms puts out."
WARNING TO SHELL EMPLOYEES: Shell Global Affairs Security "CAS") is spying on Shell employees globally trying to trace who is visiting, posting, or leaking information to this website from Shell premises. Threats, including death threats, have allegedly been made against conscience driven Shell whistleblowers supplying us with information. The worlds biggest leak of employee details as part of a claimed corporate revolution by 116 Shell employees, suggest the espionage operation, threats and draconian litigation have not been entirely successful in cutting off the supply of information to this website. The insider leaks had already cost Shell billions on the Sakhalin Energy project and the loss of SEIC Deputy Chairman, David Greer.We publish our own carefully researched articles about Shell e.g. "How Royal Dutch Shell saved Hitler and the Nazi Party".MEDIA COVERAGE: Prospect Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Guardian, have all published major articles about us: "Rise of the Gripe Site";"Two men and a website mount vendetta against Shell' and "92-year-old's website leaves oil giant Shell-shocked”. SHELL PETROL STATION images displayed in the website header panel are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Information on copyright issues here.
John Donovan can be contacted at [email protected]

SHELL’S $500,000 WEDDING GIFT TO CORRUPT BRUNEI ROYAL FAMILY

EXTRACT FROM ASIAN JOURNAL ARTICLE IN LIST OF LINKS BELOW: "Fireworks will light up the sky for three nights. The local unit of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has donated 500,000 Brunei dollars (US$292,400; euro 243,700) for the display, and for cultural events to be hosted by popular performers from Malaysia."

BILL CAMPBELL WHISTLEBLOWER EMAIL TO MP’S

IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS:

THIS IS WHAT IT SAID:

Subject: This could be the most important whistleblower email you have ever received.

Some unfortunate Royal Dutch Shell workers have already lost their lives. More lives are at stake.

My name is Bill Campbell. I am a former Group Auditor of Shell International. I am writing to you on a matter of conscience in an effort to avert the inevitability of another major accident in the North Sea. The consequences could potentially impact on families in many constituencies, including your own.

As Royal Dutch Shell and the Health & Safety Executive would acknowledge, I am an expert on safety matters relating to offshore oil and gas platforms. In 1999, I was appointed by Shell to lead a safety audit on the Brent Bravo platform. The audit revealed a platform management culture that basically gave a higher priority to production than the safety of Shell employees. To our astonishment we discovered that a "Touch F*** All" policy was in place. Worse still, safety records were routinely falsified and repairs bodged.

I personally brought the shocking situation to the attention of senior management including Malcolm Brinded, the then Managing Director of Shell Exploration & Production. I revealed that ESDV leak-off tests were purposely falsified, not once but many times and that Brent Bravo platform management had admitted responsibility for the dangerous practices being followed. In response to my team ringing alarm bells, management pledged to rectify the serious problems which had been uncovered.

When I later complained that the pledges were not being kept, I was removed from my oversight function.

Four years later, a massive gas leak occurred on the platform. Two workers lost their lives. I have no doubt at all that the inaction of the relevant Asset Manager, the General Manager, the Oil Director and Malcolm Brinded, contributed in some part to the unlawful killing of two persons on Brent Bravo in September 2003.

Shell subsequently pleaded guilty to breaches of the HSE regulations and a record-breaking £900,000 fine was imposed. I thought this would bring about a real change in policy to put the emphasis on safety.

Unfortunately I was wrong. Although I supplied the evidence related to 1999, and the fact that there had been a collapse in controls of integrity from 1999 to 2003 on all 16 of Shell's North Sea offshore installations covered in a post fatality integrity review to the HSE for review by the Procurator Fiscal, none of this evidence was presented before the Sheriff at the subsequent Inquiry. The situation is explained in a letter to the Procurator Fiscal and the Sheriff (on 24th February 2007).

Shell management has engaged in spin to try to pretend that it is getting to grips with its safety problem. However, its atrocious safety record - the worst in the North Sea in terms of accidental deaths and absolute number of enforcement actions – tells a different story. This fact has resulted in a number of newspaper articles.

I have had meetings with senior Shell people including its CEO Mr. Jeroen van der Veer. I regret to say that I have found him to be economical with the truth. He prefers to support cover-up and deceit rather than confronting the underlying problems. Brinded is now Executive Director of Shell Exploration & Production. He believes in burying evidence.

My family and friends would probably prefer me to give up on this matter and enjoy my retirement after so many years working for Shell.

However, by writing to every MP in the UK, no one can ever say that I did not do my best to avert an inevitable further major accident event in the North Sea. When it happens (I pray that I am wrong) I will make this warning communication available to the media together with the vast amount of evidence in my possession.

At least my conscience is clear. I have done everything possible to ring the alarm bells about Shell management and its unscrupulous attitude to the safety of its employees.

Yours sincerely
Bill Campbell

ENDS

(Malcolm Brinded and Jeroen van der Veer are no longer with Shell. The Oil Director referred to in the email is Chris Finlayson, who left Shell to become Chief Executive of British Gas before being fired - his photo immediately below)

SHELL RESERVES FRAUD

SIR PHILIP WATTS, THE GROUP CHAIRMAN OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL GROUP, FORCED TO RESIGN IN 2004

Shell’s reputation was destroyed in 2004 after FIVE consecutive cuts to its hydrocarbon reserves covering 55% of its total reserves. US and UK financial regulators imposed $150 million in fines on Shell for securities fraud. Shell was also rocked by class action lawsuits.Sir Philip Watts
and Walter van de Vijver (whose headcut images appear courtesy of The Wall Street Journal) were among the Shell executives forced to resign. More details at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: The Shell reserves scandal brought about
the end of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in its original form as an Anglo-Dutch partnership.
Shell Transport & Trading Co and Royal Dutch Petroleum were unified into a single Dutch owned company - Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Sir Philip turned to religion and is now a very wealthy priest after receiving a payoff/pension package from Shell reportedly worth $18.5 million. Walter van de Vijver in contrast was the victim of a sadistic sacking by his Shell senior management backstabbing colleagues.

by John Donovan

Displayed below are some of the spectacular promotional campaigns my company Don Marketing created for Shell in the 1980s and 1990s. This was before the series of SIX high court actions we brought against Shell for stealing ideas (4) and for defamation (2) - all settled by Shell. This website is a permanent response by me to the malicious underhand tactics, including treachery, espionage and intimidation, used by Shell during and after the bouts of litigation. More information is printed at the foot of this column.
MORE DETAILS: After a solicitor acting for Shell threatened to make the litigation "drawn out and difficult" with the intention of draining the resources of a financially weaker opponent, my late father (Alfred Donovan) and I decided to mount a wide-ranging campaign as a counter-measure. We jointly founded the Shell Corporate Conscience Pressure Group, which nearly 15% of Shell UK retailers joined. We regularly conducted ethical surveys involving up to 1500 Shell petrol stations. All responses were opened and authenticated by an independent solicitor who supplied Affidavits confirming the results. In whole page announcements in trade magazines (examples above) we challenged Shell to commission and publish the resuits of independent research asking the same questions and offering respondents GUARANTEED anonymity. Shell never took up the invitation. Instead it asked the UK Advertising Standards Authority to investigate our Shell surveys. No problems were found. The head-cut image of Alfred Donovan appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.

SHELL CONTROVERSIES

selection of memorable warnings/articles/images associated with the controversial track record of Royal Dutch Shell.

WARNING: DO NOT DISCLOSE YOUR IDEAS TO SHELL GameChanger OR SHELL Ideas360 WITHOUT TAKING EVERY POSSIBLE PRECAUTION. Shell management has ample funds to pay for intellectual property but prefers to steal it from small businesses and in our experience, gives its full backing to dishonest managers willing to do its bidding. We have sued Shell repeatedly in the High Court for the theft of our Intellectual Property. It is doubtful if anyone can match our dire experience in dealing with this ruthless unscrupulous serial poacher of other parties ideas. Expect threats, legal machinations and sinister action from Shell and its spooks if you object to having your ideas stolen.

Some years ago extensive documentary evidence was brought to the attention of Malcolm Brinded above, when he was Chairman of Shell UK, proving beyond any doubt that Shell executives had conspired to rig a tender for a major contract. A number of innocent firms were deliberately lured into signing confidentiality agreements and disclosing Intellectual Property to Shell under false pretences, in a carefully contrived plot. The firm which was awarded the contract never took part in the tender. One objective of the Machiavellian plan was to stop/delay IP trade secrets owned by the participants in the tender from being disclosed to Shell's rivals. This was achieved by outright deception, without paying a cent to the firms involved, who wrongly believed they were participating in an honest tender. Instead of sacking the ring leader, AJL - who had a personal relationship with the firm which miraculously won the race in which it never ran - Shell senior directors, including Brinded, gave AJL their full backing. Some of the Shell executives involved, including for example, Tim Hannagan, still hold high positions inside Shell - in his case, Global Brand and Visual Identity Manager. If Shell does not accept that this is a true, provable account of what happened, then it should sue for libel. How on earth is such predatory conduct compatible with Shell's claimed business principles?